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Topic: 26 Inch Wheel Bikes (Read 705 times)

One of the reasons I love my RST is that it is easy to get on or off with or without bags on.I am finding increasing difficulty in getting on & off on my 700 wheel bikes. (No comments re "getting ones leg over please !)There are not many adult bikes with 26 inch wheels.Anyone know of a UK available 26" wheeler. I can't find one so far.

What sort of bike are you looking for?Also consider the very compact frames with long seatposts, these will probably have more stand over clearance than a 26" wheel bike with a horizontal top tube. I have a folder and one of the (Few) nice things about it is being able to step through it. If I were to become less flexible in older age, a good quality folder would probably be worth looking into. I did have an Airnimal Joey that fits the bill well, though it sat unused for a couple of years and I replaced it with the current easier to fold but not as nice to ride folder - and have regretted it since...

I am finding increasing difficulty in getting on & off on my 700 wheel bikes.

I'm not sure it's all that much to do with wheel size, more to do with frame geometry.

My utility bike Thorn Raven Tour 612S frame is harder to mount/dismount than my tourer (also Thorn Raven Tour but 587S frame). Both are easier than my old 61 cm 700C tourer from 1977, I think mainly because the latter has a horizontal top tube rather than the currently fashionable sloped geometry.

Even a mixte or a trapeze frame still has to be leaned over to get your foot over the crossbar. In situations like this the weight of the bike (and what you're carrying on it) also comes into play, so it is not just about the stepover height, which is influenced about an inch and change up or down by the tyre size. A bike that looks like a mixte with an extra tube, called a crossframe, can be made stiffer than a standard diamond frame; I have a cross frame rated at 170kg of luggage in addition to the rider (no weight limit) and the bike itself.

The ideal thing, for a really low stepover, would be an ouma (granny) or oupa bike (the Dutch may spell these as oma and opa), called a "wave" frame by the clever marketers; this is like a big U with without any crossbar, for stiffness without gross weight probably best made in big section, thick wall aluminium. Here's an extreme example: http://backpackingwithjesus.com/tag/danish-bikes/Check the Dutch makers like Gazelle for what's easily available commercially. You don't often see one of these set up for touring, but if it the frame is stiff enough, I don't see why not, as in The Netherlands many of these carry two or more kids on the back plus the shopping and get passed down through the generations.

I doubt you'll be offered a wave frame in carbon; be tough to make plastic stiff enough. My fave would a be wave framemade from an alloy block machined down to a cross-section H frame on its side, with the head tube and seatpost insert designed and machined in. Or it could be made lighter in industrial foamed ali in a mold, a process proven by Biomega and Marc Newson, see: http://marc-newson.com/mn-bicycles/ Notice how the head tube, bottom bracket shell, and rear frame end (mono) are all part of the single construction, no welding, no sticking-out bits. A low-stepover version would look something like a tilted-over W with a single central upright as the "seat tube". Having said all of that, and confessing to be a techno-freak, I looked into the MN back when Biomega first sold it, and found it so almost comically impractical (where would you attach mudguards, lamps, etc?) that eventually I just walked away.